The Piano Man Project Page 0,54

on her was to lie.

‘Right now, maybe. But I won’t want you afterwards, and then where will we be? It’s just ten minutes of madness, Honey, because I’m lonely and you’re desperate.’ He felt her sharp intake of breath and knew his words had wounded her. ‘Put your dress back on and go home. You’ll thank me in the morning.’

He heard her cry, felt her stumble as she backed away from him and hated himself.

‘You’re wrong,’ she said, low and unsteadily. ‘I won’t thank you in the morning, because I’m done with you.’

He hauled himself up in the tiny bathroom and followed her along his hallway. ‘I’m done with your anger, and your fury, and your … your throwing me the occasional bone …’ she heaved a breath in, upset.

‘You know what, Hal? If you were a woman, they’d call you a prick tease. You’re a horrible, hateful man who gets a kick out of blowing hot and cold just to keep me dangling.’

She sounded surprised by her own word choice and as unhinged as he felt. He stood still in his hallway, feeling wretched as she stamped out of his flat and slammed the door behind her.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Operation snog-Hal’s-face-off is over. I hate him.

Honey slammed her way around the shop with her mobile in her hand, stabbing her fingers at the screen as she group-texted Nell and Tash. She’d woken up as angry as when she’d gone to sleep, angrier, if possible. The morning had dawned as grey as her mood, and she’d seriously considered kicking his door as she’d left the house bundled up in her boots and raincoat. What was this to him? A game, something he did to entertain himself? What kind of man did that make him? He might be sexy as sin but she was mad as hell with him. He’d given her a bad case of sexual frustration, and it infuriated her to death that he seemed to be the only cure for her ailment.

Her phone pinged in her hand, and Tash’s name popped up.

Project Piano-Man is back on then?

Honey huffed and texted her straight back. No. No piano men, and no revolting hot neighbours. No men full stop. I’m done.

After a few moments, her phone pinged again.

So you’re saying we need to look for a lady pianist instead …?

Honey laughed under her breath, despite her bad mood. Trust Tash to have a smart answer for everything.

‘Honey dear, can you help me with this? It’s heavy.’ Glancing up, Honey shoved her phone into her pocket and took off across the shop towards the doors.

‘Lucille, what are you doing?’ She took the heavy box from Lucille’s arms. ‘You should have called me to pick this up, it weighs a ton.’ Honey staggered to the counter with the taped-up brown box in her arms. ‘Where’s it come from, anyway? There weren’t any deliveries outside when I arrived ten minutes ago.’

‘You must have missed it, it was right there,’ Lucille said, putting the glasses on from the golden chain around her neck and peering at it. The neatly sealed box didn’t offer up clues in the way of labels or addressees.

Honey shrugged. ‘Must be a donation. The door was open though, they could have brought it in.’ She reached for the envelope opener in the drawer beneath the counter, and just as she was about to slit it open, Lucille put a hand on her arm.

‘What if it’s alive?’ Lucille said. ‘A mother donated her teenage son’s pet snake to a charity shop once, I read it in the newspaper.’

‘No air holes,’ Honey said, surveying the box. Lucille looked at it sniffily.

‘Just be careful, that’s all I’m saying.’

Honey slid the blade beneath the tape and ripped it open, unfolding the flaps of the box for them both to peer inside. After a few seconds Honey started to laugh. Lucille reached inside and pulled out one of the many pairs of handcuffs, all fluffy and in every shade of the rainbow. The accompanying unsigned note simply said that they were a gift for the residents to use in further protests and wished them every success with their campaign to save the home.

‘How bizarre,’ Honey murmured. ‘There must be thirty pairs in here.’

Mimi and Billy wandered in at that moment and gazed into the box alongside Lucille.

‘Ooh I say, darling!’ Billy said, rubbing his hands together with glee. ‘That’s a rather racy way to start the morning. I’ll take four please,’ he waggled his eyebrows at Honey. ‘No